It is commonplace for walls, ceilings, and floors to include electrical outlets, switches, communication and data ports (e.g., for telephone and cable lines), thermostats, and other types of receptacles and low-voltage devices. Almost any home or office building today will include, for example, electrical outlets and switches that include an electrical box located within the interior of the wall that supports and is connected to a mounting base (e.g., currently referred to as a “mud ring”) to which the electrical outlet or switch may be attached (and then covered by or joined to a cover plate).
The currently-available outlet assemblies, for example, suffer from several drawbacks. Specifically, the holes that are cut into a wall, and the mounting base that is connected to the electrical box (or so-called “1900 box”), are configured to only be capable of receiving a receptacle that is configured to the size of the mounting base. That is, for example, the currently-available outlet assemblies are designed such that a wall may not be easily modified to replace an outlet having two receptacles with an outlet having a single receptacle (or an outlet having four receptacles with an outlet having two receptacles), without having to damage and/or repair the surrounding wall area and replace the mounting base.
Furthermore, the installation of the mounting base restricts the space, which is not sufficient to allow an electrical inspector, during the construction of a new home or building, to conduct an appropriate electrical inspection (as required by local and/or state laws and regulations) or allow for proper wiring of the device. As such, the electrical inspections must take place before the dry wall is installed, which often leads to delays in the construction process. In addition, because of the spatial limitations created by conventional mounting bases, the electrical wiring must be “pulled” before the mounting base is installed into the wall (and before the dry wall is erected)—which may also contribute to construction delays.
Still further, the currently-available outlet assemblies are configured in such a way that the cover plate protrudes outward from the surface of the surrounding wall. Typical assemblies use the wall to create stability between the outlet, the mounting trim and the cover plate, which results in the protrusion of current cover plates. This sometimes leads to damaged cover plates and, moreover, does not allow for a modification to the cover plate (or the perimeter thereof) in a way that creates a more seamless transition and integrated appearance between the wall and the cover plate.
As the following will demonstrate, many of the foregoing problems with currently-available outlet assemblies are addressed by the present invention. Indeed, among the various novel aspects of the present invention, a new flush-mounting plate is provided, as described herein, which represents a dramatic improvement over and replacement of conventional mounting bases. The new flush-mounting plate that is shown and described herein may be used to install electrical outlet assemblies, as mentioned above, as well as switches, communication and data ports (e.g., for telephone and cable lines), thermostats, and a variety of other types of receptacles and low-voltage devices that are seamless and integrated in appearance with the wall.